Theodore the werewolf takes S&J &P&D through the Umbra, where they see a very interesting structure extending in theme and space. They pause to investigate, and discover fascinating things, like the waves that swept the earth and killed the vampire generations, which all somehow originate from an orbiting undead satellite, composed of a pyramid of vampire ninjas.

Turning, reluctantly, back to their original destination, they arrive in Hyderabad, India, where their way to the Burzmali office is blocked by a group of soldiers busy beating up on some poor old guy. Smith sorts this out, making the captain pay the beatee and take the platoon out of there. Magenta calms the P&D contingent by feeding them her blood (P is a greedy sod), and Theodore quietly slips away.

Also, checking the local time, they discover that an entire week has passed since they entered the Umbra. The 11th generation have already died, and Magenta has about one more night to live. Some frantic phone calls (to Seth's grand-sire) confirm this, and more. Surprisingly, vampires who believe they are going to die are less likely to obey the rules. As time progresses more vampires, and more powerful vampires, are coming to believe just that. the Masquerade is on the verge of what looks like unavoidable breakage.

They finally cross the street and enter the small Burzmali office, where they find by a little old Indian clerk and his paralyzed, wheelchair-bound son. One knows nothing, the other can't talk. sudo - no, he really knows nothing. People come, they go in through the door in the back, they leave. He has no idea what's in the back.

But when Smith binds the man to his will, the man's son who has been catatonic for twenty years, suddenly wakes up and tells Smith to go to a mountain in Golconda, phrasing fluently in an obscure Jamaican dialect, no less. This is obviously a message planted by someone with fearsome dominate and a macabre sense of humor.

Magenta scans the back door, but it is masked. She forces it, triggering a self-destruct mechanism that obliterates what was apparently a small service closet with many drawers, all full of clues. All gone now.

The four of them rent motorbikes and ride to Golconda. There's a movie set in town, so Smith refreshes himself. Magenta finds that the gossip columnists hovering around are not worth her time. However, she finds an obfuscated mountain festering with Kindred.

There seems to be an opening at the very top of the mountain which is adorned with a huge rock shaped like an eagle. The climb is long and terrible, but Smith finds a cleft between two rocks, much closer to the ground, through which the extended party extends itself into a complex of ancient caves. They manage to slip past a couple of goons who are busy discussing the Jyhad, and oh-so-happy with themselves they stumble into a trap in the very next room.

Bars pop out of the floor/ceiling and block the passage both ahead and behind them; and a flow of ninja vampires charge into the room, emitting loud war-cries and rolling initiative like mad. And the sun is going to rise any minute now… Somewhere in the world.